Systems and methods of re-associating content items

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for re-associating content items of a user account of a content management system on a computing device relinked to the content management system. The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media can include the content management system receiving a request to relink the computing device with a user account of the content management system. The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media can also include determining a local content item of the client device corresponds to at least one revision of a plurality of revisions of a content item of the user account, wherein the content item is currently removed from the user account. Finally, the systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media can cause the client device to delete the local content item.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology pertains to relinking a user account on acomputing device with a content management system, and more specificallypertains to re-associating content items of the user account on thecomputing device.

BACKGROUND

Content stored in an online storage account associated with a contentmanagement system can be accessed on computing devices in a variety ofways, such as through a stand-alone application, one or more applicationplug-ins, a web browser, etc. Users can upload content items, such aspictures, songs, documents, folders, etc., from a computing device totheir online storage account and later access the content items fromdifferent computing devices. The content management system can storerevision histories of each of the content items associated with a useraccount. The revision histories can facilitate synchronization of thecontent between multiple computing devices associated with the useraccount.

In some situations, users may want to unlink their computing devicesfrom the content management system, such as if the users misplace orlose their devices or intend to resell or give away their devices. Acontent management system, such as the system provided by Dropbox Inc.of San Francisco, Calif., can unlink a user account on a specifiedcomputing device such that local content items on the device no longersynchronize with the content management system. On certain useraccounts, the content management system can leave the local contentitems on the computing device when unlinking the user account. On othertypes of user accounts, the content management system can remotely wipeor delete the local content items from the computing device or leave thelocal content items on the device depending on user selection.Occasionally users may relocate their computing devices or change theirminds about reselling or giving away their devices, and desire to relinktheir user accounts on unlinked devices. The content management systemcan also support this functionality. However, for those computingdevices that retain local content items, potential conflicts can arise.For example, a computing device may store an outdated revision of alocal content item if the content item was updated during a time thecomputing device was unlinked. As another example, the local contentitem may include updates during the time the computing device wasunlinked and those updates would not have been synchronized by thecontent management system. As yet another example, the content item maybe deleted, renamed, or moved during this time. Systems and methods maybe necessary to handle such situations.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readablestorage media for re-associating content items of a client devicerelinked to a content management system, including re-associatingcontent items that have been removed during a time the client device wasunlinked. The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readablestorage media can include a content management system receiving arequest to relink the client device with a user account of the contentmanagement. The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readablestorage media can also include determining the local content item of theclient device corresponds to a revision of a content item of the useraccount, wherein the content item is currently removed from the useraccount. Finally, the systems, methods, and non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media can include causing the client device todelete the local content item from the client device.

The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage mediacan further include determining a signature of the local content itemand comparing the signature of the local content item to a signature ofthe revision. In some examples, the signature of the local content itemcan include a hash value of the local content item. In some examples,the signature of the local content item can also include a content pathof the local content item, such as a folder hierarchy of the contentitem and a name of the local content item.

The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage mediacan further include determining the client device further includes asecond local content item that does not correspond to any revisions of asecond content item of the user account and receiving the second localcontent item from the client device.

The systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage mediacan further include determining the client device further includes athird local content item that corresponds to a previous revision of athird content item of the user account, wherein the third content itemis not currently removed, and sending data for synchronizing the thirdlocal content item.

Finally, the systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readablestorage media can include the content management system receiving arequest to unlink the client device from the content management systemand also receiving from a second client device authorized on the useraccount, a request to delete the local content item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-recited and other advantages and features of the disclosurewill become apparent by reference to specific embodiments thereof whichare illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only example embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C show an example client application forun-associating local content items on a client device from content itemsof a content management system and re-associating the local contentitems on the client device to the content items of the contentmanagement system;

FIGS. 2A and 2B show an example web interface for deleting a contentitem of a content management system;

FIG. 3 shows an example web interface for re-associating a local contentitem on a client device with a removed content item of a conventionalcontent management system;

FIGS. 4A and 4B show example client interfaces for re-associating alocal content item on a client device with a removed content item of acontent management system;

FIG. 5 shows an example flow diagram for re-associating local contentitems on a client device with content items of a content managementsystem;

FIG. 6 shows an example configuration of devices and a network inaccordance with various embodiments of the present technology;

FIG. 7A shows a first example system embodiment for implementing variousembodiments of the present technology; and

FIG. 7B shows a second example system embodiment for implementingvarious embodiments of the present technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationscan be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art forre-associating content items of a user account of a content managementsystem with a client device. Multiple client devices can be authorizedby the user account. The content management system can synchronize thecontent items among the multiple client devices. The content managementsystem can unlink the user account from a client device and thensubsequently relink the client device to the user account. Duringrelinking, the content management system can synchronize the contentitems on the client device, such as by updating older revisions ofcontent items on the client device, receiving new content items from theclient device, and propagating deleted, renamed, or moved content itemsto the client device.

During a time the client device is unlinked, one or more content itemsof the content management system can be deleted, renamed, and/or moved.These updates are not reflected in local content items on the clientdevice because the content management ceases to synchronize with theclient device during this time. A conventional content management systemcan erroneously recognize the outdated revisions of the local contentitems on the client device as new items and distribute the outdatedrevisions to other client devices authorized by the user account.

FIG. 1A shows an example client application interface 100 for unlinkingclient device 104 from a content management system (e.g., contentmanagement system 602 of FIG. 6). Client application interface 100 canbe a part of client application 112 installed on client device 104 tointeract with the content management system. Client application 112 canbe integrated into a file system of client device 104 or can beimplemented as a stand-alone application. In the example of FIG. 1A,user 114 (i.e., User A) of a user account associated with the contentmanagement system operates client application 112 on client device 104,the user's desktop computer. Client application 112 can include detailpane 132 that lists local content items 116 on client device 104. Detailpane 132 can also list local metadata file 134 to facilitate interactionbetween client device 104 and the content management system. As shown inFIG. 1A, user 114 has right-clicked on application icon 126 representingclient application 112 (or right-clicked on details pane 132) to pull upcontext menu 128. Context menu 128 can include menu options for variousfunctionality provided by the content management system, including menuoption 130 for “unlinking” (e.g., uninstalling a client application anddisassociating local content items of a user account from a contentmanagement system) client device 104 from the content management system.

FIG. 1B shows an example client application interface 125 of unlinkedclient device 104. After user 114 selects menu option 130 for“unlinking” client device 104 from the content management system andconfirms unlinking client device 104 from the content management system,client device 104 can delete client application 112 and any metadataassociated with client application 112. For example, as shown in FIG.1B, client device 104 has replaced application icon 126 (as previouslyshown in FIG. 1A) representing client application 112 with folder icon136 representing local content items 116 on client device 104 anddeleted local metadata file 134 to indicate the unlinked state of clientdevice 104. In addition, when client device 104 is unlinked, clientdevice 104 may no longer synchronize with the content management system.For example, local directory 118 (i.e., Foo), local directory 120 (i.e.,Bar), local directory 122 (i.e., Baz), and local content item 124 (i.e.,Trailer.mp4) may no longer display synchronization state icons (aspreviously shown in FIG. 1A) to indicate that these local content itemsare no longer synchronized with the content management system. That is,client device 104 will not receive updates (e.g., deletes, renames,moves, modifications, creations, etc.) for these local content items byother client devices associated with the user account of user 114.

FIG. 1C shows an example client application interface 150 of clientdevice 104 “relinked” to the content management system. For example,user 114 can re-install client application 112 on client device 104 andauthenticate user 114 via client application 112. As can be seen in FIG.1C, upon relinking client device 104 with the content management system,client device 104 has replaced folder icon 136 (as previously shown inFIG. 1B) representing local content items 116 on client device 104 withapplication icon 138 representing client application 112. Further,client device 104 begins displaying synchronization statuses (e.g.,synchronization in progress) for local directory 118 (i.e., Foo), localdirectory 120 (i.e., Bar), local directory 122 (i.e., Baz), and localcontent item 124 (i.e., Trailer.mp4). These user interface changes canindicate that client device 104 has relinked with the content managementsystem, and that the local content items will be synchronized with thecontent management system.

During the period client device 104 is unlinked, user 114 or otherauthorized users of the user account can add, update, or remove (e.g.,delete, move, or rename) content items. Since client device 104 has been“unlinked” from the content management system, the synchronizationprocess will not update client device 104 with these changes. Thus,relinking client device 104 with the content management system cancreate conflicts between content items of the user account and localcontent items 116 on client device 104. For example, when client device104 is relinked, local content items 116 may not reflect the latestupdates of content items of the user account and/or the content itemsthat the content management system has removed from the user account maystill exist as local content items 116 on client device 104. Duringsynchronization with relinked client device 104, a conventional contentmanagement system may determine that unremoved local content items onclient device 104 are new content items or updated content items thatshould be added back to the user account. The conventional contentmanagement system will therefore rewrite (i.e., synchronize) removedcontent items to the user account and distribute these content items toevery other client device authorized by the user account even though itis the intention of user 114 or other authorized users to remove thesecontent items. Thus, the conventional content management system wouldrequire user 114 or other authorized users to take additional,unnecessary steps to delete, move, or rename previously removed contentitems.

FIG. 2A shows an example web interface 200 for a user account of contentmanagement system 202 (e.g., content management system 602 of FIG. 6)associated with user 214. Web interface 200 can be provided by contentmanagement system 202. Web interface 200 can be rendered and displayedusing browsing application. Browsing application 210 can be anapplication operating on a client device that can be used to navigatecontent distributed throughout a WAN, such as the Internet. In theexample of FIG. 2A, browsing application 210 can parse a documentincluding mark-up language (e.g., HTML, XML) that is served by a webserver in the WAN to display multimedia content, such as text, images,audio, video, applications, etc. Browsing application 210 can include anaddress bar 206 (also referred to as a location bar, URL bar, etc.) fordisplaying web address 208 toward which user 214 can be navigating,browsing, or otherwise interacting. In the example of FIG. 2A, user 214has logged on or signed into her user account provided by contentmanagement system 202. Browsing application 210 can provide a default(e.g., initial, home, etc.) webpage for user 214 at web address 208(i.e., “https://www.cloudcms.com/home”). Web interface 200 can include alist of content items 216 of the user account maintained by contentmanagement system 202. In particular, list of content items 216 includesa directory (e.g., default directory, root directory, top-mostdirectory, etc.) of content that is associated with the user account ofuser 214. Content items 216 can include directories, sub-directories,files, albums, playlists, media, and/or other data. Content items 216can also include shared content items, such as content item 218 (i.e.,Foo). For example, other users 236 (e.g., User DN) can access contentitem 218. The access to content item 218 can be read-only or read/write.

FIG. 2B shows an example web interface 250. User 214 or anotherauthorized user of the user account has removed (e.g., deleted, renamed,moved, etc.) content item 224 (i.e., Trailers.mp4 as previously shown inFIG. 2A). In other examples, a content item can be renamed or moved intoa different directory, and content management system 202 can treat suchactions as equivalent to deleting the content item from the user accountand adding the content item to a new content path. The contentmanagement system will remove content item 224 from every other linkedclient device and client device authorized by the user account of user214. The content management system will not synchronize with unlinkeddevices, such as client device 104 as previously shown in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3 shows an example web interface 300 of a user account ofconventional content management system 303. Upon the relinking of aclient device, such as client device 104 previously shown in FIG. 1C,conventional content management system 303 will synchronize localcontent items on the client device with content items 316 of the useraccount of user 314. For example, conventional content management system303 may analyze each of the local content items on the client device andsynchronize the local content items 316. If a local content item on theclient device corresponds to a previous revision of a content item ofthe user account, conventional content management system 303 may sendinformation to update the local content item such that the local contentitem corresponds to the latest revision. If a local content item has asame content path as a content item of the user account but does notcorrespond to any revision, conventional content management system 303may perform a conflict resolution procedure to reconcile differencesbetween the local content item and the latest revision of the contentitem of the user account. If a local content item does not correspond toany existing content item, conventional content management system 303may retrieve the local content item and distribute the local contentitem as a new content item of the user account. This approach, however,may not meet users' expectations with respect to the case in whichconventional content management system 303 removes a content item from auser account and a relinked client device has not accounted for removalof that content item. As previously discussed, conventional contentmanagement system 303 may assume the local content item on the relinkedclient device is a new content item and distribute the local contentitem to every authorized client device despite the intention of user 314or another authorized user to remove the content item. This can be seenin FIG. 3, in which conventional content management system 303 addscontent item 324 back to content items 316. Although it can be trivialin this example to re-delete content item 324, this can becomeburdensome for user 314 to manage in other situations where user 314must re-delete dozens, hundreds, or thousands of content items. Inaddition, conventional content management system 303 expends unnecessaryprocessing resources, storage space, and network bandwidth to retrievelocal content items on the relinked client device, distributing thelocal content items to authorized client devices as “new” content items,and re-deleting the “new” content items. This problem increases in scalefor every additional user account and every client device authorizedunder the user account.

FIG. 4A shows an example web interface 400 of a user account of contentmanagement system 402. Here, in contrast to conventional contentmanagement system 303, upon the relinking of a client device, such asclient device 104 previously shown in FIG. 1C, content management system402 does not treat local content item 124 as a new content item.Instead, when content management system 402 synchronizes local contentitems on a relinked client device with content items 416 of the useraccount of user 414, content management system 402 will “re-associate”removed (e.g., deleted, renamed, moved, etc.) content items. Forinstance, instead of assuming that a local content item that does notcorrespond to any existing content item is a new content item, contentmanagement system 402 can determine whether the local content itemcorresponds to a content item that has been deleted (or renamed, moved,etc.). In one example, content management system 402 can maintain arespective revision history for every content item of a user account,including a “deleted” revision. Revision histories can be indexed basedon a content path of a content item. Content management system 402 canuse the revision histories to determine whether the local content itemshares a same content path of a deleted content item. If so, contentmanagement system 402 can recognize that the local content itemcorresponds to a deleted content item and does not attempt to add thelocal content item as a new content item, as shown in FIG. 4A, whichexcludes local content item 124 (i.e., Trailers.mp4 as previously shownin FIG. 1C).

In addition, content management system 402 can delete the local contentitem from the relinked client device during synchronization, as shown inFIG. 4B. In particular, FIG. 4B shows an example client applicationinterface 450 of client device 404 relinked to content management system402 (as shown in FIG. 4A). As seen in FIG. 4B, local content items 416on client device 404 do not include local content item 124 (i.e.,Trailers.mp4 as previously shown in FIG. 1C).

The method shown in FIG. 5 is provided by way of example, as there are avariety of ways to carry out the method. Additionally, while the examplemethod is illustrated with a particular order of sequences, those ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that FIG. 5 and the sequencesshown therein can be executed in any order that accomplishes thetechnical advantages of the present disclosure and can include fewer ormore steps than illustrated.

Each sequence shown in FIG. 5 represents one or more processes, methodsor subroutines, carried out in the example method. The sequences shownin FIG. 5 can be implemented in a system such as system 600 shown inFIG. 6. The flow chart illustrated in FIG. 5 will be described inrelation to and make reference to at least content management system 202shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B and client device 104 shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B,and 1C.

FIG. 5 shows an example flow diagram 500 for relinking a client deviceto a content management system, including re-associating local contentitems stored on the client device with the content items of a useraccount associated with the content management system. Flow diagram 500can begin at sequence 505, at which point content management system 202can receive a request to relink a user account on a client device. Therequest can be received from client device 104, which was previouslylinked to the user account. When the request to relink has beenreceived, flow diagram 500 can proceed to sequence 510.

At sequence 510, content management system 202 can receive a request tosynchronize local content item 124 (e.g., Trailer.mp4) with acorresponding content item of a user account associated with contentmanagement system 202. The request can include a content path of localcontent item 124 (including any directory or sub-directory in whichlocal content item 124 can be located and a name of local content item124). In some examples, the request can include one or more hash valuesof local content item 124. The content path and/or the hash value(s) canbe used as a signature or key for local content item 124. When contentmanagement system 202 receives the synchronization request, flow diagram500 can proceed to sequence 515.

At sequence 515, content management system 202 can determine whether thecontent path of local content item 124 corresponds to any content pathof content items of the user account. For example, content managementsystem 202 can use the content path or other data derived from thecontent path, such as the hash value of the content path, as a key orsignature into an index of content paths of content items of the useraccount of user 114. If there is no match on the key or signature (i.e.,the content path of local content item 124 does not correspond to anycontent path of content items of the user account, including anycurrently existing content item and any previously existing content itemthat is currently removed from the user account), local content item 124is a new item and can be synchronized (e.g., committed) to the useraccount. In this case, flow diagram 500 can proceed to sequence 520. Onthe other hand, if there is a match on the key or signature, localcontent item 124 corresponds to a content item that previously existedor currently exists in the user account, and flow diagram 500 canproceed to sequence 525.

At sequence 520, client device 104 can send local content item 124 tocontent management system 202 to commit local content item 124 as a newcontent item for storage under the user account of user 114. When localcontent item 124 has been committed as a content item of the useraccount, flow diagram 500 can end.

At sequence 525, content management system 202 can determine whether thecontent item of the user account corresponding to local content item 124is currently removed (e.g., deleted, renamed, or moved). For example,user 114 may have deleted the content item corresponding to localcontent item 124 while client device 104 was unlinked. Thus, a revisionhistory of the corresponding content may indicate that the correspondingcontent item is currently deleted (e.g., has a file size of 0) from theuser account, and flow diagram 500 can proceed to sequence 530. On theother hand, when local content item 124 is not currently deleted fromthe user account, flow diagram 500 can proceed to sequence 535.

At sequence 530, local content item 124 can be deleted from clientdevice 104 (as shown in FIG. 4B). For example, content management system202 can send client device 104 instructions to delete local content item124. As should be understood, if a content item is a directory, contentmanagement system 202 can delete any content items in the directory andany subdirectory and subdirectories' content items. When local contentitem 124 has been deleted, flow diagram 500 can end.

At sequence 535, content management system 202 can determine whetherlocal content item 124 corresponds to any previous revision of thecontent item of the user account. If local content item 124 correspondsto a previous revision, content management system 202 can synchronizelocal content item 124 with the latest revision, and flow diagram 500can proceed to sequence 540. On the other hand, if local content item124 does not correspond to any previous revision, flow diagram 500 canproceed to sequence 545.

At sequence 540, content management system can send data to clientdevice 104 to synchronize local content item 124 with the latestrevision of the user account. When local content item is updated tocorrespond to the latest revision of the content item of the useraccount, flow diagram 500 can end.

At sequence 545, content management system 202 can determine whetherlocal content item 124 corresponds to the latest revision of the contentitem of the user account. If local content item 124 corresponds to thelatest revision, client device 104 has the most up to date version ofthe content item, content management system 202 does not need to performany additional action with respect to local content item 124, and flowdiagram 500 can end. On the other hand, if local content item 124 doesnot correspond to the latest revision, local content item includesupdates never processed by content management 202, and flow diagram 500can proceed to sequence 550.

At sequence 550, content management system 202 can perform a conflictresolution procedure to reconcile differences between local content item124 and the latest revision of the content item of the user account. Insome examples, this can require manual intervention on the part of auser to determine which updates to incorporate. When differences betweenlocal content item 124 and the latest revision of the content item arereconciled, flow diagram 500 can end.

With respect to implementing various embodiments of the disclosedtechnology, an example system configuration 600 is shown in FIG. 6,wherein electronic devices communicate via a network for purposes ofexchanging content and other data. The system can be configured for useon a wide area network such as that illustrated in FIG. 6. However, thepresent principles are applicable to a wide variety of networkconfigurations that facilitate the intercommunication of electronicdevices. For example, each of the components of system 600 in FIG. 6 canbe implemented in a localized or distributed fashion in a network.

In system 600, a user can interact with content management system 606through client devices 604 ₁, 604 ₂, . . . , 604 _(n) (collectively“604”) connected to network 606 by direct and/or indirect communication.Content management system 602 can support connections from a variety ofdifferent client devices, such as desktop computers; mobile computers;mobile communications devices, e.g. mobile phones, smart phones,tablets; smart televisions; set-top boxes; and/or any other networkenabled computing devices. Client devices 604 can be of varying type,capabilities, operating systems, etc. Furthermore, content managementsystem 602 can concurrently accept connections from and interact withmultiple client devices 604.

A user can interact with content management system 602 via a client-sideapplication installed on client device 604 _(i). In some embodiments,the client-side application can include a content management systemspecific component. For example, the component can be a stand-aloneapplication, one or more application plug-ins, and/or a browserextension. However, the user can also interact with content managementsystem 602 via a third-party application, such as a web browser, thatresides on client device 604 _(i) and is configured to communicate withcontent management system 602. In either case, the client-sideapplication can present a user interface (UI) for the user to interactwith content management system 602. For example, the user can interactwith the content management system 602 via a client-side applicationintegrated with the file system or via a webpage displayed using a webbrowser application.

Content management system 602 can make it possible for a user to storecontent, as well as perform a variety of content management tasks, suchas retrieve, modify, browse, and/or share the content. Furthermore,content management system 602 can make it possible for a user to accessthe content from multiple client devices 604. For example, client device602 _(i) can upload content to content management system 602 via network606. The content can later be retrieved from content management system602 using the same client device 604 _(i) or some other client device604 _(j).

To facilitate the various content management services, a user can createan account with content management system 602. The account informationcan be maintained in user account database 614. User account database614 can store profile information for registered users. In some cases,the only personal information in the user profile can be a usernameand/or email address. However, content management system 606 can also beconfigured to accept additional user information.

User account database 614 can also include account managementinformation, such as account type, e.g. free or paid; usage information,e.g. file edit history; maximum storage space authorized; storage spaceused; content storage locations; security settings; personalconfiguration settings; content sharing data; etc. Account managementmodule 612 can be configured to update and/or obtain user accountdetails in user account database 614. The account management 612 can beconfigured to interact with any number of other modules in contentmanagement system 602.

An account can be used to store content, such as digital data,documents, text files, audio files, video files, etc., from one or moreclient devices 604 authorized on the account. The content can alsoinclude directories or other mechanisms of grouping content itemstogether with different behaviors, such as collections, playlists,albums, etc. For example, an account can include a public directory thatis accessible to any user. The public directory can be assigned aweb-accessible address. A link to the web-accessible address can be usedto access the contents of the public directory. In another example, anaccount can include a photos directory that is intended for photos andthat provides specific attributes and actions tailored for photos; anaudio directory that provides the ability to play back audio files andperform other audio related actions; or other special purposedirectories. An account can also include shared directories or groupdirectories that are linked with and available to multiple useraccounts. The permissions for multiple users can be different for ashared directory.

The content can be stored in content storage 616. Content storage 616can be a storage device, multiple storage devices, or a server.Alternatively, content storage 616 can be a cloud storage provider ornetwork storage accessible via one or more communications networks.Content management system 602 can hide the complexity and details fromclient devices 604 so that client devices 604 do not need to knowexactly where the content items are being stored by content managementsystem 606. In one variation, content management system 602 can storethe content items in the same directory hierarchy as they appear onclient device 604 _(i). However, content management system 602 can storethe content items in its own order, arrangement, or hierarchy. Contentmanagement system 602 can store the content items in a networkaccessible storage (SAN) device, in a redundant array of inexpensivedisks (RAID), etc. Content storage 660 can store content items using oneor more partition types, such as FAT, FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, EXT4,ReiserFS, BTRFS, and so forth.

Content storage 616 can also store metadata describing content items,content item types, and the relationship of content items to variousaccounts, directories, or groups. The metadata for a content item can bestored as part of the content item or can be stored separately. In onevariation, each content item stored in content storage 160 can beassigned a system-wide unique identifier.

Content storage 616 can decrease the amount of storage space required byidentifying duplicate files or duplicate segments of files. Instead ofstoring multiple copies, content storage 616 can store a single copy andthen use a pointer or other mechanism to link the duplicates to thesingle copy. Similarly, content storage 616 can store files moreefficiently, as well as provide the ability to undo operations, by usinga file version control that tracks changes to files, different versionsof files (including diverging version trees), and a change history. Thechange history can include a set of changes that, when applied to theoriginal file version, produce the changed file version.

Content management system 602 can be configured to support automaticsynchronization of content from one or more client devices 604. Thesynchronization can be platform agnostic. That is, the content can besynchronized across multiple client devices 604 of varying type,capabilities, operating systems, etc. For example, client device 604_(i) can include client software, which synchronizes, via asynchronization module 618 at content management system 602, content inclient device 604 _(i)'s file system with the content in an associateduser account. In some cases, the client software can synchronize anychanges to content in a designated directory and its sub-directories,such as new, deleted, modified, copied, or moved files or directories.The client software can be a separate software application, canintegrate with an existing content management application in theoperating system, or some combination thereof. In one example of clientsoftware that integrates with an existing content managementapplication, a user can manipulate content directly in a localdirectory, while a background process monitors the local directory forchanges and synchronizes those changes to content management system 602.Conversely, the background process can identify content that has beenupdated at content management system 602 and synchronize those changesto the local directory. The client software can provide notifications ofsynchronization operations, and can provide indications of contentstatuses directly within the content management application. Sometimesclient device 602 _(i), may not have a network connection available. Inthis scenario, the client software can monitor the linked directory forfile changes and queue those changes for later synchronization tocontent management system 602 when a network connection is available.Similarly, a user can manually stop or pause synchronization withcontent management system 602.

A user can also view or manipulate content via a web interface generatedand served by user interface module 620. For example, the user cannavigate in a web browser to a web address provided by contentmanagement system 602. Changes or updates to content in the contentstorage 616 made through the web interface, such as uploading a newversion of a file, can be propagated back to other client devices 604associated with the user's account. For example, multiple client devices604, each with their own client software, can be associated with asingle account and files in the account can be synchronized between eachof the multiple client devices 604.

Content management system 602 can include a communications interface 608for interfacing with various client devices 604, and can interact withother content and/or service providers 608 ₁, 608 ₂, . . . , 608 _(n)(collectively “608”) via an Application Programming Interface (API).Certain software applications can access content storage 616 via an APIon behalf of a user. For example, a software package, such as an app ona smartphone or tablet computing device, can programmatically make callsdirectly to content management system 602, when a user providescredentials, to read, write, create, delete, share, or otherwisemanipulate content. Similarly, the API can allow users to access all orpart of content storage 616 through a web site.

Content management system 602 can also include authenticator module 622,which can verify user credentials, security tokens, API calls, specificclient devices, and so forth, to ensure only authorized clients andusers can access files. Further, content management system 602 caninclude analytics module 624 module that can track and report onaggregate file operations, user actions, network usage, total storagespace used, as well as other technology, usage, or business metrics. Aprivacy and/or security policy can prevent unauthorized access to userdata stored with content management system 602.

Content management system 602 can include sharing module 626 formanaging sharing content publicly or privately. Sharing content publiclycan include making the content item accessible from any computing devicein network communication with content management system 602. Sharingcontent privately can include linking a content item in content storage616 with two or more user accounts so that each user account has accessto the content item. The sharing can be performed in a platform agnosticmanner. That is, the content can be shared across multiple clientdevices 604 of varying type, capabilities, operating systems, etc. Thecontent can also be shared across varying types of user accounts.

In some embodiments, content management system 602 can be configured tomaintain a content directory identifying the location of each contentitem in content storage 616. The content directory can include a uniquecontent entry for each content item stored in the content storage.

A content entry can include a content path that can be used to identifythe location of the content item in a content management system. Forexample, the content path can include the name of the content item and adirectory hierarchy associated with the content item. For example, thecontent path can include a directory or path of directories in which thecontent item is placed as well as the name of the content item. Contentmanagement system 602 can use the content path to present the contentitems in the appropriate directory hierarchy.

A content entry can also include a content pointer that identifies thelocation of the content item in content storage 616. For example, thecontent pointer can include the exact storage address of the contentitem in memory. In some embodiments, the content pointer can point tomultiple locations, each of which contains a portion of the contentitem.

In addition to a content path and content pointer, a content entry canalso include a user account identifier that identifies the user accountthat has access to the content item. In some embodiments, multiple useraccount identifiers can be associated with a single content entryindicating that the content item has shared access by the multiple useraccounts.

To share a content item privately, sharing module 626 can be configuredto add a user account identifier to the content entry associated withthe content item, thus granting the added user account access to thecontent item. Sharing module 626 can also be configured to remove useraccount identifiers from a content entry to restrict a user account'saccess to the content item.

To share content publicly, sharing module 626 can be configured togenerate a custom network address, such as a uniform resource locator(URL), which allows any web browser to access the content in contentmanagement system 602 without any authentication. To accomplish this,sharing module 626 can be configured to include content identificationdata in the generated URL, which can later be used to properly identifyand return the requested content item. For example, sharing module 626can be configured to include the user account identifier and the contentpath in the generated URL. Upon selection of the URL, the contentidentification data included in the URL can be transmitted to contentmanagement system 602 which can use the received content identificationdata to identify the appropriate content entry and return the contentitem associated with the content entry.

In addition to generating the URL, sharing module 626 can also beconfigured to record that a URL to the content item has been created. Insome embodiments, the content entry associated with a content item caninclude a URL flag indicating whether a URL to the content item has beencreated. For example, the URL flag can be a Boolean value initially setto 0 or false to indicate that a URL to the content item has not beencreated. Sharing module 626 can be configured to change the value of theflag to 1 or true after generating a URL to the content item.

In some embodiments, sharing module 626 can also be configured todeactivate a generated URL. For example, each content entry can alsoinclude a URL active flag indicating whether the content should bereturned in response to a request from the generated URL. For example,sharing module 626 can be configured to only return a content itemrequested by a generated link if the URL active flag is set to 1 ortrue. Thus, access to a content item for which a URL has been generatedcan be easily restricted by changing the value of the URL active flag.This allows a user to restrict access to the shared content item withouthaving to move the content item or delete the generated URL. Likewise,sharing module 626 can reactivate the URL by again changing the value ofthe URL active flag to 1 or true. A user can thus easily restore accessto the content item without the need to generate a new URL.

While content management system 602 is presented with specificcomponents, it should be understood by one skilled in the art, that thearchitectural configuration of system 606 is simply one possibleconfiguration and that other configurations with more or less componentsare also possible.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B show example possible system embodiments. The moreappropriate embodiment will be apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art when practicing the present technology. Persons of ordinaryskill in the art will also readily appreciate that other systemembodiments are possible.

FIG. 7A illustrates a conventional system bus computing systemarchitecture 700 wherein the components of the system are in electricalcommunication with each other using a bus 705. Example system 700includes a processing unit (CPU or processor) 710 and a system bus 705that couples various system components including the system memory 715,such as read only memory (ROM) 720 and random access memory (RAM) 725,to the processor 710. The system 700 can include a cache of high-speedmemory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated aspart of the processor 710. The system 700 can copy data from the memory715 and/or the storage device 730 to the cache 712 for quick access bythe processor 710. In this way, the cache can provide a performanceboost that avoids processor 710 delays while waiting for data. These andother modules can control or be configured to control the processor 710to perform various actions. Other system memory 715 can be available foruse as well. The memory 715 can include multiple different types ofmemory with different performance characteristics. The processor 710 caninclude any general purpose processor and a hardware module or softwaremodule, such as module 1 732, module 2 734, and module 3 736 stored instorage device 730, configured to control the processor 710 as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporatedinto the actual processor design. The processor 710 can essentially be acompletely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orprocessors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processorcan be symmetric or asymmetric.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 700, an inputdevice 745 can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 735 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input tocommunicate with the computing device 700. The communications interface740 can generally govern and manage the user input and system output.There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardwarearrangement and therefore the basic features here can easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

Storage device 730 is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk orother types of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges,random access memories (RAMs) 725, read only memory (ROM) 720, andhybrids thereof.

The storage device 730 can include software modules 732, 734, 736 forcontrolling the processor 710. Other hardware or software modules arecontemplated. The storage device 730 can be connected to the system bus705. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particularfunction can include the software component stored in acomputer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardwarecomponents, such as the processor 710, bus 705, display 735, and soforth, to carry out the function.

FIG. 7B illustrates a computer system 750 having a chipset architecturethat can be used in executing the described method and generating anddisplaying a graphical user interface (GUI). Computer system 750 is anexample of computer hardware, software, and firmware that can be used toimplement the disclosed technology. System 750 can include a processor755, representative of any number of physically and/or logicallydistinct resources capable of executing software, firmware, and hardwareconfigured to perform identified computations. Processor 755 cancommunicate with a chipset 760 that can control input to and output fromprocessor 755. In this example, chipset 760 outputs information tooutput 765, such as a display, and can read and write information tostorage device 770, which can include magnetic media, and solid statemedia, for example. Chipset 760 can also read data from and write datato RAM 775. A bridge 780 for interfacing with a variety of userinterface components 785 can be provided for interfacing with chipset760. Such user interface components 785 can include a keyboard, amicrophone, touch detection and processing circuitry, a pointing device,such as a mouse, and so on. In general, inputs to system 750 can comefrom any of a variety of sources, machine generated and/or humangenerated.

Chipset 760 can also interface with one or more communication interfaces790 that can have different physical interfaces. Such communicationinterfaces can include interfaces for wired and wireless local areanetworks, for broadband wireless networks, as well as personal areanetworks. Some applications of the methods for generating, displaying,and using the GUI disclosed herein can include receiving ordereddatasets over the physical interface or be generated by the machineitself by processor 755 analyzing data stored in storage 770 or 775.Further, the machine can receive inputs from a user via user interfacecomponents 785 and execute appropriate functions, such as browsingfunctions by interpreting these inputs using processor 755.

It can be appreciated that example systems 700 and 750 can have morethan one processor 710 or be part of a group or cluster of computingdevices networked together to provide greater processing capability.

For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology canbe presented as including individual functional blocks includingfunctional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps orroutines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardwareand software.

Any of the steps, operations, functions, or processes described hereinmay be performed or implemented by a combination of hardware andsoftware modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In anembodiment, a software module can be software that resides in memory ofa client device and/or one or more servers of a content managementsystem and perform one or more functions when a processor executes thesoftware associated with the module. The memory can be a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, andmemories can include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit streamand the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readablestorage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals,electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

Methods according to the above-described examples can be implementedusing computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwiseavailable from computer readable media. Such instructions can comprise,for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network.The computer executable instructions can be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, orsource code. Examples of computer-readable media that can be used tostore instructions, information used, and/or information created duringmethods according to described examples include magnetic or opticaldisks, flash memory, USB devices provided with non-volatile memory,networked storage devices, and so on.

Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can comprisehardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety ofform factors. Typical examples of such form factors include laptops,smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personal digitalassistants, and so on. Functionality described herein also can beembodied in peripherals or add-in cards. Such functionality can also beimplemented on a circuit board among different chips or differentprocesses executing in a single device, by way of further example.

The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computingresources for executing them, and other structures for supporting suchcomputing resources are means for providing the functions described inthese disclosures.

Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explainaspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of theclaims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements insuch examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use theseexamples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further andalthough some subject matter may have been described in languagespecific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it isto be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claimsis not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. Forexample, such functionality can be distributed differently or performedin components other than those identified herein. Rather, the describedfeatures and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systemsand methods within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method comprising:receiving, at a content management system, a request to relink a clientdevice with a user account of the content management system; determininga local content item of the client device corresponds to at least onerevision of a plurality of revisions of a content item of the useraccount, wherein the content item is currently removed from the useraccount; and causing the client device to delete the local content item.2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining thelocal content item corresponds to at least one revision includes:determining a signature of the local content item; and comparing thesignature of the local content item to at least one signature of the atleast one revision of the content item.
 3. The computer implementedmethod of claim 2, wherein the signature of the local content itemincludes a hash value of the local content item.
 4. The computerimplemented method of claim 1, wherein the content item being currentlyremoved is at least one of the content item being deleted, moved, orrenamed.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining a second local content item of the client devicehas a content path that does not correspond to content paths of contentitems of the user account; and receiving the second local content itemfrom the client device.
 6. The computer implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: determining a second local content item of theclient device corresponds to a previous revision of a second contentitem of the user account; and sending data to the client device forsynchronizing the second local content item with the second contentitem.
 7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, at the content management system, a request to unlink theclient device from the user account; and receiving, at the contentmanagement system from a second client device authorized on the useraccount, a request to delete the local content item.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions that, upon being executedby a computer, cause the computer to: receive a request to relink aclient device with a user account of a content management system;determine a local content item of the client device corresponds to atleast one revision of a plurality of revisions of a content item of theuser account, wherein the content item is currently removed from theuser account; and cause the client device to delete the local contentitem from the client device.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the instructions upon being executed furthercause the computer to: determine a signature of the local content item;and compare the signature of the local content item to at least onesignature of the at least one revision of the content item.
 10. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein thesignature of the local content item includes a hash value of the localcontent item.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim8, wherein the content item being currently removed is at least one ofthe content item being deleted, moved, or renamed.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein theinstructions upon being executed further cause the computer to:determine a second local content item of the client device has a contentpath that does not correspond to content paths of content items of theuser account; and receive the second local content item from the clientdevice.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8,wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the computerto: determine a second local content item of the client devicecorresponds to a previous revision of a second content item of the useraccount; and send data for synchronizing the second local content itemwith the second content item.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the instructions upon being executed furthercause the computer to: receive a request to unlink the client devicefrom the user account; and receive, from a second client deviceauthorized on the user account, a request to delete the local contentitem.
 15. A content management system comprising: one or moreprocessors; and memory including instructions that, upon being executedby the one or more processors, cause the content management system to:receive a request to relink a client device with a user account of thecontent management system; determine a local content item of the clientdevice corresponds to at least one revision of a plurality of revisionsof a content item of the user account, wherein the content item iscurrently removed from the user account; and cause the client device todelete the local content item from the client device.
 16. The contentmanagement system of claim 15, wherein the instructions upon beingexecuted further cause the content management system to: determine asignature of the local content item; and compare the signature of thelocal content item to at least one signature of the at least onerevision of the content item.
 17. The content management system of claim16, wherein the signature of the local content item includes a hashvalue of the local content item.
 18. The content management system ofclaim 15, wherein the content item being currently removed is at leastone of the content item being deleted, moved, or renamed.
 19. Thecontent management system of claim 15, wherein the instructions uponbeing executed further cause the content management system to: determinea second local content item of the client device has a content path thatdoes not correspond to content paths of content items of the useraccount; and receive the second local content item from the clientdevice.
 20. The content management system of claim 15, wherein theinstructions upon being executed further cause the content managementsystem to: determine a second local content item of the client devicecorresponds to a previous revision of a second content item of the useraccount; and send data for synchronizing the second local content itemwith the second content item.